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OK I have a problem I cannot figure out on a desktop. The USB system is not picking up on items that are plug in on the two front USB ports. So I thought I would use the two on the back but I have a external hard drive on one and my wireless mouse and keyboard on the other one. The mouse and keyboard work fine but I noticed that the harddrive is not being seen either. I checked all setting in windows and the bios both and all are set correctly. SO why does 3 of the ports not work and one does? I would think if it was a problem with the mobo that all of them would not work. I tried uninstalling and re-installing the software for the printer and the external harddrive with out any luck. I am stumped.

Inspect the plugs... if you're talking about the plugs on the front not working, the ones on the back do, I wonder if one of the plugs on the front is damaged, causing that chain not to work.Remove all devices from the front, and move the wireless reciever to the front. If you can't get the known working device to work, there's something wrong with those plugs. They plug to a different place on the MB than the back plugs, kind of like an A channel and a B channel.If the front is blown, just pick up a USB hub to share the working plugs in the back.

I thought of that also but have one plug on back working and one not working. There is a total of 4 plugs and 3 of them are not working correctly as they will not recognize anything plug into them. But they will charge my ipod and phone which can be charged thru usb from computer.

Thanks for all the ideas. I have tried them all and it is Windows XP I am running. I unplug everything and took the computer out and blew it out. Hooked everything back up and at first it did not work at all. After some knocking around it works fine now. All of it including the usb ports. Go figure. So is a hardware problem I think. Either mobo is worked loose or the power supply might be failing. Or it is about 5 years old maybe I just need to take it apart and put it back together again and re-fit everything back in place.

A good old unpluggin' and blow out makes machines much happier, new or old. Computers attract dust & dirt the same way the 'ionic breeze' does. What kind of power is the machine plugged into ? I hope you have it on a surge protector, or better yet, a battery backup. Power issues could cause the MB to wack out like this. And this isn't a PC only thing, Macs get 'sad' every once in a while...~Rob.

Sounds like you did fine, just a word of caution to anybody reading this & maybe considering doing the same.

I've seen instances of fried boards from running those little vacuums sold to clean computers, home vacuums and using an air compressor. Make sure your case is grounded properly before doing any major cleaning, dry air blowing across components may generate enough static electricity to zap something. Canned air is probably your best choice.

Very Important: Before touching any component inside your computer touch the properly grounded case to discharge any static on you.

Properly you should wear a static strap properly grounded but a grounded case and always touching it before touching anything else is usually enough insurance, I've never zapped anything using this free method.

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"Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see" John W Lennon

"People do not quit playing because they grow old, they grow old because they quit playing" George Bernard Shaw

I have to disagree. Those little cans of air are expensive and probably an environmental nightmare. I would only use one (no, it would take two) of those if I didn't have access to anything else. Almost half of the machines that I'm responsible for are in industriual environments, and have to be blown out every few months. I either use compressed air strait from the compressor, or from a pony tank with ~100 lbs of pressure. In over 20 years of doing this, hundreds if not thousands of machines, I can't think of one instance of failure that I could attribute to a static jolt from cleaning. Static or dirty power coming through communication lines or power is another story. Not having a good grounded outlet, or a properly run ethernet cable causes most computer problems... that & overheat issues caused by a blanket of dust. I agree that those little vacuums are a joke, they're only good for cleaning keyboards. It is a good idea to touch a ground before sticking your hands inside a machine and best practice to use a grounding leash, but I only get those out when working in a computer room.

I have seen one that was blamed on the husband blowing it out with a compressor, there may have been other circumstances. She said it was full of cat hair and her husband took it outside and blew it out - didn't work anymore after putting it back together.

Unfiltered an air compressor can also blow a lot of water, aim the air hose at your fuel station at a piece of paper and see how much comes out.

I do use a compressor myself, not the one with a storage tank though since that is where the water accumulates. I use one for painting, either my big Devilbliss for house painting with a pop-off at 45 lbs when outside or one of my small ones for my air guns that is filtered and has a variable regulator again around 40 lbs since that is adequate to do the job.

You and I have the proper equipment, everybody doesn't, I aimed that at home users where cranking up an old compressor in the garage used to inflate bike tires occassionally without draining the tank and proper filtration or taking it down to your service station and plunking in 50 cents could cause problems.

A new motherboard & CPU cured the above ladies problems, she got an excuse to upgrade so she wasn't really upset, just $300 lighter. Same lady who fried another one with that little vac thing (serious cat hair problems) she uses only canned air now and hasn't trashed another one since I got her to do that.

Logged

"Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see" John W Lennon

"People do not quit playing because they grow old, they grow old because they quit playing" George Bernard Shaw

I have seen one that was blamed on the husband blowing it out with a compressor, there may have been other circumstances. She said it was full of cat hair and her husband took it outside and blew it out - didn't work anymore after putting it back together.

Unfiltered an air compressor can also blow a lot of water, aim the air hose at your fuel station at a piece of paper and see how much comes out.

I do use a compressor myself, not the one with a storage tank though since that is where the water accumulates. I use one for painting, either my big Devilbliss for house painting with a pop-off at 45 lbs when outside or one of my small ones for my air guns that is filtered and has a variable regulator again around 40 lbs since that is adequate to do the job.

You and I have the proper equipment, everybody doesn't, I aimed that at home users where cranking up an old compressor in the garage used to inflate bike tires occassionally without draining the tank and proper filtration or taking it down to your service station and plunking in 50 cents could cause problems.

A new motherboard & CPU cured the above ladies problems, she got an excuse to upgrade so she wasn't really upset, just $300 lighter. Same lady who fried another one with that little vac thing (serious cat hair problems) she uses only canned air now and hasn't trashed another one since I got her to do that.

Hey MiC…You’re totally right about needing a moisture separator, especially in a humid environment. I’ve seen some real misty air come out of some of the air guns in shops that I visit. Usually, the mechanics wouldn’t hook their tools to hoses like that, but some guys just don’t care. A shop vac in reverse or a leaf blower could be used, too. I usually try to take the machine outside, because the cloud that comes out of most machines can’t be good to breathe…The amount of dirt that comes out of home machines is surprising, it’s just a different color than shop machines. Same quantity. That blanket of dust slowly kills the MB, usually causing the capacitors on the board to burst open and ooze who knows what…

I think the original poster’s USB issue was solved by the full unplugging. Solves many, many hardware problems. Bad power or static is usually to blame for phantom problems like that.